September Mediterranean Magic Trip Report updated 10/25/2017 - Page 7 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Great details and photos of the cathedral! It's quite impressive but would be more so without the cranes!
10 more years!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Glad I'm not the only one who only got to see the outside of Sagrada Familia! I do hope to go IN it on my next trip to Barcelona!
Ham in a cone......yum?
Right? We didn't try any but had to snap that pic
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh the interior of La Sagrada Familia is really something. I walked around it just in complete awe.
Just means we will have to return!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Gorgeous pictures! I especially like the ones of you and your mom!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
The next part of this tour was mostly via the van. We drove over to the Olympic Site and I’ll be honest it was just the exterior of a bunch of buildings and wasn’t that interesting to me. What is interesting is that this is up on somewhat of another hill and after the Olympic interest we stopped off for a fantastic view of the city below.
We got out and it was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon with a nice breeze going. We really enjoyed the break to stretch our legs and take some photos. Mom got really into her fish eye lense up here too. You could also see the cruise ships from here but our wonderful Disney Magic wasn’t quite back to Barcelona yet!
We took some photos and I caved and grabbed a quick snack here from a little food truck type thing as it was already 1pm and there was no lunch break in sight as of yet. It was a cheesy foccacia and soo delicious! I was much happier after my snack and finished it as we got back into the van for the 45 minute drive to Montserrat.
That snack looks yummy! I agree, the Olympic site, without the Olympics is something that can be skipped. But I did like the fountain, and the view down to the port.
I'm still on the fence about whether to do Montserrat. I really want to see it, but not sure with only 2 full days and half of another in Barcelona that I can fit it in. This will be my DH's first time in Barcelona, and I think there's plenty to do in that time. Plus, I'm intent on going IN Sagrada Familia this time!
But I'm anxious to hear about your tour - assume it was the half day tour?
Great views of the city and it's amazing how many cruise ships are here! Looks like such a nice day. Your foccacia looks so good and certainly cured your hunger at this point in the day.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Wait... did they tell you guys that it would be 10 more years before the cranes go? Yup, we heard that line too... on our first visit to Barcelona in 2007. I'm not holding my breath on that front...
That snack looks yummy! I agree, the Olympic site, without the Olympics is something that can be skipped. But I did like the fountain, and the view down to the port.
I'm still on the fence about whether to do Montserrat. I really want to see it, but not sure with only 2 full days and half of another in Barcelona that I can fit it in. This will be my DH's first time in Barcelona, and I think there's plenty to do in that time. Plus, I'm intent on going IN Sagrada Familia this time!
But I'm anxious to hear about your tour - assume it was the half day tour?
Coming right up! Personally I think Montserrat is not to be missed if you can make it work! We were only really in Barcelona the one full day and were so glad we got out there! The tour we did was a full day tour but the second "half" was that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Great views of the city and it's amazing how many cruise ships are here! Looks like such a nice day. Your foccacia looks so good and certainly cured your hunger at this point in the day.
We could not have asked for more beautiful weather!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What great views of the city!
Wait... did they tell you guys that it would be 10 more years before the cranes go? Yup, we heard that line too... on our first visit to Barcelona in 2007. I'm not holding my breath on that front...
LOL! It will still be cool to see the progress in 10 more years
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
So many beautiful sights in Barcelona! That fountain was amazing!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
After our scenic drive to Montserrat we had a limited time to explore the area to still make it back to Barcelona on time (this is where the late start really became apparent unfortunately). Our time here was only a 2-4pm window. First we had a short tour and then we finally had some free time to explore. Unfortunately the amount of time didn’t allow for everything there was to do here. You could visit the Black Madonna, hike around for more stunning views, ride this terrifying elevator up to the top, or shop along the market, and this was when we were suppose to get a lunch break as well with both a restaurant and a cafeteria here.
There was a restaurant and viewing area when you arrive, that's where this photo is taken. I hope you can see the long walkway in the bottom right- that's where the shop and market are and at the other end is the church at the base of the next mountain peak somewhat.
The views from here were breathtaking !
This track in the mountain is the "scary elevator"
One couple vanished before the tour, choosing to fend off their hunger in the restaurant and skip the guided tour. Another quickly skirted off to hike to the little church. We decided to take it easy and just go look around the main church and go from there. It was a really neat experience to see monks wandering around and there was a wedding going on as we arrived! I was also of course working on becoming a master Pokemon trainer while we ventured.
Everything at the site is beautiful but the church has some stunning detail and wonderful stained glass windows. It’s pretty small so it was a quick walk through for us and it’s an active church so you need to be quiet and respectful inside, but they do allow photos!
We didn't know at the time but this would be for the bride and groom!
Mom loves a good doorway photo!
We decided to skip the Black Madonna and just shop around a bit before relaxing in the cafeteria where we ran into our new friends and sat and enjoyed a glass of wine while chatting with them.
We did come home with a bottle of this!
I was so intrigued by the offerings at the little shop!
resting in the cafeteria
We were tired and ready for the once again beautifully scenic drive back to Barcelona and were dropped off around 5:30 for the short walk back to our hotel. During the trip a map of suggested tapas places was passed around to help everyone get ideas for dinner! Ultimately this all-day tour was a really great way to see the highlights with our limited time in the city and we were really glad we picked one that included Montserrat!
Monserrat is beautiful and in fairness, when we visited (we were in our own car), we probably didn't spend more than a couple of hours there, as that's about all the time we could afford on our schedule on that trip.
Your photos of Monseratt are amazing with such spectacular views! Too bad you didn't have a couple more hours to explore the island as I'm sure it would be worth it. I like how they have a funicular to take you up the mountain, which I'm guessing may be the volcano, which I knoiw has errupted in the past and not too long ago!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
About This Page: 
PassPorter Guide Author
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Too bad you didn't have a couple more hours to explore the island as I'm sure it would be worth it. I like how they have a funicular to take you up the mountain, which I'm guessing may be the volcano, which I knoiw has errupted in the past and not too long ago!
Linear Mode
